Project Areas: Child Sponsorship: Our Field Organizations

The Child Sponsorship Program is designed to offer members and friends of the Apostolic112-kids-on-benches.jpg Christian Church an opportunity to be directly involved in the lives of children that are born in economically distressed areas of the world. A small monthly donation will allow a sponsored child to attend a Christian school where he will learn, perhaps for the first time, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sponsorships are focused on the poorest of the poor. Those who would otherwise be unable to gain an education, or could only do so at great hardship to their family are participants in the program.

Haiti

Sponsorships in Haiti offer the option to sponsor individual children or an entire school. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and the needs are great.  Most of the schools provide a hot lunch program, with a large bowl of rice and beans providing the main source of nutrition for some of the children.  Click here to view the picture book.

MEBSH
As you can see in the history section, MEBSH was among the first organizations the Child Sponsorship program began working with.  Based out of Les Cayes, the MEBSH Child Care program is helping to reach many children and schools in Southern Haiti.  All of their schools are operated by the MEBSH Church, and the Carribean Committee is involved in helping to build desks and put roofs on schools. 

Many work team members are familiar with the director of the program, Marie Lucie Jeune.  Sponsorship rates start at $25 per month, increase to $30 for Grades 7-10 and $35 for Grades 11 - 13.  Students in University programs and Trade schools may also be sponsored, and the rate varies depending on the program.

In addition to student sponsorships, there is a special need for school sponsorships, which contribute to the overall management of the school, including teacher salary subsidies and other administrative costs.  School sponsorships usually are available at $110 per month.

Help a Child in Haiti
HCH is headed by Adline Cameus, a Christian Haitian who was a sponsored child so she has a very personal and heartfelt love for these children. At present HCH sponsors children in 8 schools in remote villages along the southern coast across the island from Port au Prince. Your sponsorship donation provides tuition for a Christian education, uniforms and shoes, school supplies, and a small amount to the child’s family. Sponsorship is $25 per month with gift money going to the family. HCH was organized to take over the Child Sponsorship portion of Living Word as Living Word moves to a different focus.

Jamaica

We currently work with two organizations:

Carribean Christian Centres for the Deaf (CCCD)
Jamaica has an estimated 2,500 deaf children, and many of them have never been exposed to 358969-741793-thumbnail.jpgthe Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They have little opportunity for education.  Child Sponsorship has been working with CCCD since 1997.  In 1999 there were 66 sponsored children, and in July 2011 there were 144.  The schools that CCCD has established in Kingston, Knockpatrick, and Montego Bay give these children an opportunity to receive a Christian education, learn to communicate through sign language, and have the hope of becoming a useful and productive citizen better prepared to care for themselves in their adult years. 

Contributions provide the child with housing on the school campus, uniforms, food, clothing, and medical care during the school year.  Each child in Jamaica needs $250 per month to provide for their education.  Since this amount can be prohibitive for an individual sponsor, we have set the support at $25 per month, and each child is assigned 10 sponsors.

New Beginnings International Training Center
In 1986, Bob and Mary Holland were burdened for the boys they found in Jamaica who were living in the streets or in difficult circumstances.  They have founded a school and training center in the Montego Bay region where about 25-30 boys (5 sponsored through CS) receive Bible study and instruction, academic education, and health and dental care. 

The goal is to set each boy on the proper path to reach his full potential in God as the staff ministers to their bodies and souls.  Some of the boys have stayed on as mentors and counselors to the younger ones.  Some are in the program for a few years and then return to their families.  The sponsored boys will receive $25 per month to help with their school expenses.

 

Mexico

Magdalena
The Child Sponsorship Program has supported House of Life and Hope (Casa Vida y Esperanza or CVE) Childrens Home from the beginning and continues to support a number of students in Magdalena. CVE is a World Relief and Mission Committee joint outreach located in Northern Mexico.

CVE exists to: Mentor young lives with the truth, love, and hope of Jesus Christ for today and forever. This includes meeting their physical, mental, and spiritual needs through education, training, and the security and stabilty of a Godly home life. For further information about CVE browse their website. Click here. Or go directly to CVE's Picture Gallery.

Juarez
The AMMAR School is located in Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.  The students move in and out of the school in this transient area.  Some stay for a short time until their parents, who come from the countryside, find work in a different area and other students stay for a longer time when the parents find work in the AMMAR area.  During their time at the school, the students are taught the Gospel message.

The Child Sponsorship Program provides sponsorships for about 125 students.  The Field Office for AMMAR is managed by members of our Bluffton Church.  For more information on the ongoing work in Juarez, click here.

Ixtlan
For a number of years, sponsors have supported the students associated with the Ixtlan church.  A new Christian School is being built to serve this community.  The Apostolic Christian Missionary Board has oversight of this campus.

Lancaster School
Located on the outskirts of the poverty and violence-stricken city of Juarez, the Lancaster School is associated with the LaVid (The Vine) orphanage which receives World Relief assistance.

As you enter and tour the facility and visit with the staff and children, you sense a feeling of love and peace though the school is located amid much poverty and some of the children have first-hand experience with the violence that plagues the area. The school has a common area where the staff and children gather daily for devotions and guidance. The school is very well managed and we routinely receive notes of appreciation from the school director.

Isaiah 55
Instituto Isaias 55 is a grace-based mission that evangelizes the communities of Mexico through the education of deaf students in the border city of Reynosa, Mexico. Reynosa has a population of almost one million, and Isaiah 55 appears to be the only school designed especially for the deaf. The city faces problems of homelessness, crime, orphaned children, poverty and drug trafficking. A typical deaf child in Mexico does not have access to language or education, resulting in a significant number of children largely unreached by the Gospel.

Three primary goals for the students at the school are: 

  1. Language, which will allow communication with their family, community and church.
  2. Education, which will allow the students to pursue jobs and support themselves. 
  3. The Gospel, which provides the students with the tools to be able to read His Word and learn about Jesus. 

The sponsorship money is used for school operations – which include teachers’ salaries, school supplies, uniforms and maintenance; special events such as programs and field trips; and expansion – plans are being made to open a second school near the center of the city.

Timothy House
A boys’ home for orphans in northwestern Mexico located one hour south of Arizona, Timothy House has its own Christian school. Although the school is open to children from the surrounding neighborhood, only Timothy House residents are sponsored.

Children arrive at Timothy House from all over the state of Sonora.  Some have come from mountainous mining towns, from border cities like Nogales, from small agricultural settings in the desert and from port towns like Guaymas.  We serve children that need a permanent home, who do not have any family members who can care for them and also are not candidates for adoption. 

Only $25 per month makes it possible for an orphan boy from Timothy House to attend the Timothy House Christian School. The Timothy House mission is to raise these boys to be God-fearing men, faithful husbands and responsible fathers.

Guatemala

In Guatemala, a country plagued by natural disasters and poverty in general, Child Sponsorship works with the organization ACSI. Children are sponsored from a number of schools in both rural and urban areas. Some of the schools are located in poverty-stricken areas, but have strong family units with parental involvement who have a strong desire for their children to become educated and learn about the Word of God. Others schools have children that come from homes with little parental nurturing or care.  

Your donation of $25 per month provides school uniforms, school books, materials and supplies, and teacher salary subsidies. It provides these children a Christian education and a caring school environment.

Zambia

As in most African countries, the orphan problem in Zambia is great, with an estimate of over 1,000,000 orphans (8-10% of the population).
Some other stunning statistics:

  • 1 out of every 5 individuals is HIV+.
  • The average life expectancy is 30.5 years.
  • 50% of Zambia’s population is under the age of 15.
  • Only 10% of all children attend school regularly.

LifeSong for Orphans
Lifesong School in Zambia is caring for 230 orphan and vulnerable children who are receiving a Christian education and being fed two meals per day, the only school in the community to have such a program.  John Mumba, the director, and his staff have a vision of seeing these homeless children fostered by Christian caretakers and educated in a school that was recently built.

The Child Sponsorship Program is partnering with Lifesong for Orphans to help give hope to these needy children.  Sponsorship is $25 per month to support the Christian education and other services that are being provided to the orphans and vulnerable children at this school.